Introducing a new application or a change to an application into a heavily loaded production computer platform is risky when a full test cannot be performed. Generally a human administrator decides when best to deploy an application and so adds human error to the overall risk of the new application failing. Furthermore a human operator may also make configurations for the application and so adds further risk of human error.
US patent publication 2007/0294420 discloses a computer implemented method for optimizing installation of an application on a computer. Resources and services affected by a change to a resource are identified in response to receiving a request for the change. A determination of an optimal time for the change is made based on a policy associated with the service. The change is deployed with a deployment engine. A determination is made by approximating how long is needed to implement the change and feedback from other similar changes is used to better determine how much time is required to make the change. Next, the change management coordinator determines the best time to apply the requested change based on the policy for the high-level service. This method does not test that the application is installed correctly or that it functions correctly after installation.
It is desirable to automate aspects of both the deployment and the testing of an application in a production platform to reduce the risk of outages to a production platform caused by application and human errors. It is further desirable to provide full diagnostics to speed up fixing defects if they were to occur.